Out & About April 2017

Quality time

If you have an old grandfather clock sitting in your house, or an ornate mantelpiece one, they could well be collector’s items – whether in working condition or not. THOMAS PLANT says in this instance time really is money H orology is the art and/or science of measuring time and horologists is the name given to clock collectors. In the 1650s the English cleric, the Reverend Edward Barlow, invented the Rack and Snail striking mechanism, which in turn allowed the repeating clock to develop at the press of a button, or the pull of a chord. These clocks

One of the best things about collecting clocks is being able to study them to find out about the social culture, science and technology behind them. Looking at a clock, you can tell a lot about when it was made. Clockmakers often wove their culture into their creations, so looking at the design and construction can help you pinpoint where and when the clock was made. Clocks started to be used in the 1600s with verge and foliot escapements, later to be replaced by pendulums, and back then they were made of brass with iron components and were wall-hung and struck every hour on the hour – but they were not great time keepers. Although this design continued for the next 150 years, there are relatively few of them in the market and we rarely see them at auction. We now call these lantern clocks – thought to come from the word ‘latten’ meaning brass or possibly because these clocks resembled lanterns. Longcase clocks, or grandfather clocks as they are more commonly known, were produced in England from the mid-1600s for 200 years, however production slowed after about 1860 with modern-styled examples being made up to the 1950s with reproduction examples still being produced today. Good quality clocks from well-known makers or clocks with complex or automaton movements are highly sought after and command good prices. The automatons can be moon phase, “rocking ship” or merely animals/people being part of the painted dial with moving eyes.

chimed the hours (and in more complex designs the minutes too). The striking mechanism he used later became standard in clock and watch repeaters. Occasionally, these come to auction, usually on better-quality clocks. Scientific progress in clockmaking is evident in the early 1800s when cheaper, mass-produced clocks came to the market making them accessible to everyone. American Inventor and clockmaker Eli Terry created one of the first mass-produced clocks cased in a wooden box with a glass door, often with a famous place or person reverse-painted on the glass. This was later replaced by a transfer. These clocks are known as ogee because of the profile of the wood used in the frame work or occasionally as “Kipper boxes”, this being a name started by importers as the clocks stacked in the hold of the ships transporting them looked like so many stacked boxes of fish. American steeple clocks are also quite common, however “double decker” examples with “waggon spring” movements, wooden gears or lesser known manufacturers are very much in demand by collectors and as such can bring considerably higher prices than their more common counterparts. At SAS, our monthly auctions often include clocks and they sell at prices that suit all budgets.

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